


Coffee

by Jelly1123



Category: Perception (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-12
Updated: 2020-05-12
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:13:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24139429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jelly1123/pseuds/Jelly1123
Summary: Kate asks Daniel to coffee after solving a particulary tough case. What will he realize and what will come of it?
Kudos: 3





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on Fanfiction.net under AJ1123 on 8/11/2012.

Kate straddled the man's lower back as she wrenched his arms back, hooking the handcuffs on him. The man, easily twice the size of the tiny FBI agent, groaned and tried to pitch her off, but once she had him securely bound, she jumped off him. She drew her gun from its holster and pointed it as the man as she yanked him abruptly to a sitting position.

Daniel could imagine that most men would be intimidated by Kate. Not him, though. Considering the psychological torment that he experienced day in and day out, he found himself drawn to her instead of repelled. She was sane, strong, and every bit an anchor in his otherwise chaotic life—even though a great deal of his routine was messed up when he helped her.

"Hey, want to grab some coffee?"

"Hmmm?" He said, snapping out of his daze.

Kate smiled and repeated herself, knowing full well that he had been a million miles away. She often would turn to consult him on the case and he'd be staring at the wall or trying to covertly—and poorly—talk to his latest hallucination.

This time, however, she wasn't sure exactly what was going on in that head of his; not that she ever really did.

"Uh…" Daniel responded, and she waited for the inevitable refusal.

"Just go, Daniel." A familiar voice snipped in his ear. "You should let her in. You can't exist on Lewicky alone forever. You'll get lonely."

"Tell me about it." He grumbled quietly, glaring at Natalie Vincent as she hovered at the edges of his vision.

"What?" Kate asked.

"Nothing, nothing. Sure I'll come." He told her. Kate's face was one of immediate and almost suspicious surprise. Daniel felt bad that his constant denial caused her to lose faith in him.

Kate drove them to a little coffee house that Daniel had never seen before despite it being just six blocks from the University. Pots full of colorful flowers crowded the brick storefront. A couple of cast-iron tables and chairs stood outside.

"Why don't you grab that table?" Kate pointed to an empty table.

Daniel nodded and shuffled over.

Kate disappeared into the coffee house. As Daniel sat there, a young woman walked up to the table. She looked kind of familiar—or so he thought. "Is this seat taken?" She asked.

"No." He said. There were three chairs at the table. She could take one.

Yet, instead of pulling the chair to wherever she was planning on sitting, she just sat down and smiled at Daniel.

The girl was tall, almost six feet, with auburn hair that turned almost fiery in the sunlight. She wore a simple t-shirt and jeans that made her appear younger than she was. Looking at her face, he could see that she was probably closer to his age than the twenty-year old he originally assumed she was. She folded her hands in front of her and fixed her bright blue eyes on him.

"I'm waiting for someone." He said.

The girl smirked. "On a date?"

"No, no. It's not a date." He told her sternly.

"Why are you so adamant that this isn't a date?" She asked calmly. "Don't you like this girl you're with?"

"I'm not with her." Daniel snapped. He paused. "What is your name?"

"Grace. Grace Healy." She said, holding her hand out to him. Daniel looked at her hand wearily—didn't she know the kind of germs that could survive on one's hands—but didn't dare shake it. He didn't shake hands, ever.

"Okay, Grace, why are you bothering me?" He groaned.

"Because someone needs to." She said, smiling.

"You're not really here." He said finally, realizing that she was merely a hallucination. Of course, it had been obvious from the start. Why out of all the people sitting outside or inside the café would she choose to sit with the one man who was possibly a complete nut job?

"Daniel? Who are you talking to?" A familiar voice asked. He turned around to see Kate standing there, holding two drinks.

"Uh…no one." He said, and then revised it. "Myself."

Kate laughed. "We all talk to ourselves sometimes. I do." She handed him one of the cups. Daniel took a sip; she had gotten it just right.

"It's a very common occurrence." Daniel parroted. "For we can be completely candid with ourselves without fear of outside judgment—though many of us do judge ourselves anyway. It helps us to work out thoughts that we don't want to discuss with other people or don't have anyone to discuss with." When he finished, Daniel was grinning like a small child who just realized that he wasn't so different from the other kids after all.

"Whether you talk to yourself like most people or in the form of an outward projection, it's still essentially talking to yourself." She said with a mild shrug. Daniel stared at her in surprise—she was always full of those it seemed.

They fell into an easy silence, sipping their drinks.

After a few minutes, Daniel set down his coffee. Kate looked up at him, expectantly.

"Kate, would you like to accompany me for dinner?"


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally posted on Fanfiction.net under AJ1123 on 8/11/2012.

Dinner that evening was taking place at Daniel's house. He refused to go a restaurant full of noisy families and their disgusting eating habits. Plus, Daniel rarely ate food that he didn't make himself—who knew what they might do to his food?

So instead he turned to the one person most likely to spit in his food.

"Why should I cook you and some mystery guest dinner?"

"Because I asked nicely?" Daniel offered his assistant. Lewicki didn't seem convinced. It didn't help that Daniel told him that once he made the meal, he would have to leave the house for a few hours. Lewicki grumbled but finally fished the cookbook out of the drawer in the kitchen.

Daniel went up to his room, looking for something to wear.

He didn't want to dress too fancy, but also he wanted to wear something other than the jacket and scarf that was his usual choice of clothing. After a few minutes of arguing with Natalie he finally settled on a blue button up shirt, his usual black dress pants, and a pair of polished shoes.

When he came back downstairs, Lewicki was stirring a pot of spaghetti.

His assistant looked him up and down. Then said, "What kind of dinner guest is this? Someone from the university or a lady friend?"

Daniel raised an eyebrow at him.

"Right. University." Lewicki said immediately. As he turned back to the sauce he was stirring, he laughed to himself. Daniel Peirce didn't date and he didn't have friends. Whoever was coming was probably sent by the university's dean, Paul Haley.

Once the plates were laid out, Lewicki drew on his coat, griped about Daniel's lack of tack, and stormed from the house. Daniel rolled his eyes.

At least he was gone finally. And just in time for Kate who was to arrive in ten minutes.

Daniel spent the next ten minutes worrying. He worried about his clothes—were they nice enough, or too nice? He worried about the food getting cold. Once he confirmed that the boiling meal wasn't going to get cold anytime soon, he began worrying over the lighting. Were candles too intimate or would the overhead lights be fine?

Then there was the one question he kept returning to: Was this a date?

When the doorbell rang, Daniel dared a glance in the mirror before he ran to the door. He took a moment to collect himself before pulling the door open. Standing on the stoop, was Kate.

Yep, this was a date.

Kate was wearing a deep blue dress and matching flats. Since the air outside had grown chilly, she had to shrug out of her gray coat, allowing him to take it and hang it up. The dress was rather modest but very pretty with silver accents. She even wore a silver necklace that ended in a cross. Daniel bit his tongue at that—she was way too beautiful looking to fixate on a single insignificant detail.

He wondered again if his shirt wasn't fancy enough, but Kate didn't seem to mind as she walked into the foyer. "Evening." She smiled.

Daniel found he had no words, so instead he returned her smile best he could and ushered her into the kitchen. The plates were still warm and he fished a bottle of wine from the fridge. He already had the glasses on the table. He usually avoided alcohol, but decided that he could weather a glass or two for Kate's sake.

"Wow, this is good." She said, trying the spaghetti. "Did you make it?"

"No. Lewicki did." He said with a shrug.

"Daniel, that is when you're supposed to lie!" Kate laughed, and Daniel gave her a small half-smile, not sure what he did wrong. When she caught a glimpse of his expression, she reassured, "I'm kidding, Daniel. If we had gone out to a restaurant, someone else would have made our food anyway."

"I'm sorry that I couldn't have taken you out to a restaurant." He apologized as he poured her another glass of wine. That was three so far—he hoped she didn't plan to drive home.

"Don't be." She told him.

He wanted to groan. Kate was too nice for her own good. What girl didn't want to go to some nice restaurant? He didn't doubt for a second that she wouldn't rather be sitting in that fancy restaurant on Fifth Street than sitting in the dining room of a crazy man.

"I don't like eating out much anyway." She admitted, her eyes fixed on Daniel as she said it. He didn't doubt for a second then, that she was lying. "This is much…nicer."

He knew what she meant. She liked the intimacy of the meal but didn't want to use the word for fear of what it usually made people think.

"Would you like desert? I have some angel food cake." He offered once he had placed both their dishes in the sink. He would let Lewicki wash them later—after he complained about Daniel being lazy, of course.

"Did Lewicki make that too?" She joked.

"No, Pepperidge Farms did." He responded, retrieving the cake from the counter.

"I'm going to have to teach this lying thing to you." She smiled.

Daniel looked at the table. It wasn't dirty exactly but he didn't like the idea of eating the cake at the table. Kate seemed to sense this. Finally she said, "We can eat this on the couch. Watch a movie."

That seemed like a good idea.

A few minutes later they were sitting on the couch, eating angel food cake off of paper plates, and watching some psychological thriller called Antitrust. While these kinds of movies made Daniel paranoid, Kate showed interest in it and Daniel figured it wouldn't be too bad with her there with him..

Forty-five minutes into the film, Kate had managed to scoot across the couch and curl up against Daniel's side. He wasn't sure what to do with his hands and mostly paid more attention to her than the actual movie.

At least there were no unwanted visitors.

"I knew it!" Kate whispered when the guy's girlfriend turned out to be working for the evil corporation. She was a detective—of course she'd solve the mystery before the protagonist.

He smiled down at her. This was going better than he expected.

By the end of the movie, Daniel found himself with his arm draped around her petite frame, her head resting on his chest. When he looked down at her, she was asleep.

The first thought that went through his head, was that he needed to get her out before Lewicki got back or he'd never live this down.

"Kate." He said quietly, trying to shake her awake. She didn't stir.

His next thought was that she died. Then she shifted a little, mumbling quietly and he let out a sigh of relief. Why did his mind turn to the most irrational thoughts? Sense would dictate that she was a deep sleeper, not that she died. He internally chastised himself.

"Daniel…" Kate said suddenly, sitting up. "Could you call me a cab?"

The request caught him unawares, and he stood, reaching for the phone. He moved too quickly though and caused the still sleepy Kate to topple over on the couch. He grinned at her apologetically and could see from her surprise that she was fully awake now.

"What about your car?" Daniel asked after he hung up with the cab company.

"I didn't bring it." She said. "I came in a cab."

He nodded, finally understanding. At least he didn't have to worry about a tipsy Kate driving home—though she held her liquor surprisingly well for such a tiny woman. She didn't slur, babble or do any of the other things he had seen drunken people do. If all she did was sleep, he could deal with that.

"Thanks, Daniel." She said as he walked to the front stoop. He helped her back into her coat and stood outside with her. "I enjoyed myself—at least the time that I was actually awake."

"I'm glad you did." He responded.

A few minutes of shivering finally paid off when the cab pulled in front of the house and honked twice.

"Night Daniel." Kate said, starting down the walkway.

Halfway down, she stopped and looked back at him. She seemed to making a decision. Before Daniel could respond, she had bound back up to him. Then in one fluid motion, she linked her hands behind his neck and kissed him.

Tingles ran up his spine as she kissed him. He didn't know what to do but managed to bring his hands around her and allowed himself to melt into the kiss. He held her lightly around the waist as she rose up on her tippy-toes to deepen the kiss.

The two jumped apart when the cabby honked again.

Kate wouldn't look up, but she was giggling. "I'm sorry if that was…"

"No, no." Daniel breathed a bit dazed. "That was…nice."

Kate's face broke into a huge smile as she gave him a quick peck on the lips before running to catch the cab before it left.

When Daniel went inside, he slumped on the couch, unable to get the kiss out of his head. Kissing Kate had never even crossed his mind but now that he had, that's all he could think about—well, really, she had kissed him.

"Someone from the University, huh?" A voice mocked from behind the couch.

"Shut up, Lewicki."

"Whatever you say, Daniel."


End file.
